Lamar hosts Society of Women Engineer’s Discover Engineering

Lamar University and the Society of Women Engineers will host a fair Saturday, April 13, to promote and inform people about the benefits of an education in engineering. The Discover Engineering fair will be held at the Spindletop Gladys City Boomtown Museum, located at 5550 Jimmy Simmons Blvd., from 1 p.m. until 4:30 p.m. It is designed for seventh- and eighth-grade students, but is fun for everyone including parents. The fair is free and open to the community.

“Teachers and students are all welcome, and we hope that everyone can come out and have a great time with us,” said Paige Hoyt, Society of Women Engineers spokesperson.

The event will include activities that focus on using engineering skills to solve practical problems. These include making “slime” from household materials to observe its chemical properties and explore chemical engineering. Another planned activity is building a dance pad that sounds a buzzer and flashes lights to explore electrical engineering designs. Other activities will focus on civil and mechanical engineering. Many of these activities are based upon PBS Design Squad experiments, a public broadcasting television science program.

The fair will incorporate experts from local organizations and Lamar University students who will participate in the activities. It is sponsored by local companies including ExxonMobil, Valero, Huntsman, Garrett, Nalco, and MeadWestvaco. Refreshments will be served during the event.

While we harbor no disrespect for the Wall Street Journal who called us “that scrappy little paper from Southeast Texas,” we prefer to think of ourselves as simple seekers of the truth. We’re of the opinion that headlines and sound bites never tell the whole story. Our readers demand all the facts, facets and flavors of every story or event. And, they expect to be informed, educated and stirred to action.